It certainly has been a while since we touched down in London town. At the time of our visit earlier this year Harry Potter and the Cursed Child had not yet open, Brexit was still a much debated topic, the pound was valued more than twice the (Canadian) dollar and David Cameron was Prime Minister. The combination of indecision and laziness has now seen the weather come almost full circle since our visit with no words to account for it.

The experience of dining at the three-Michelin institution of the great French chef Alain Passard is well documented. One does not have to venture far on Google to know that his work with vegetables is unmatched and the success of those who have worked under his tutelage speaks for itself. To avoid reiterating what has already been said, we opted for a Takeaways post instead to bring insight into parts of our meal. Continue reading →

At about 5 a.m. in the heart of Valencia, Spain I woke up to find the light on my phone blinking. “Holy smokes!” I thought as I received five new emails within an hour after having just fallen asleep. It turns out they were all from my mother and the slew of emails was a by-product of her excitement after touching base with a good friend from high school. Their discussions led to talks about travels and to the new restaurant of their other classmate’s daughters in Paris called Le Servan.

What was initially supposed to be a single visit to introduce ourselves to the cuisine of David Toutain turned out to be two when an email a month before our visit to Paris stated that our reservation was booked on the same day as a four-hands dinner with two-Michelin starred chef Alexandre Bourdas of SaQuaNa. Intrigued by the collaboration we opted to keep our initial reservation and book another meal there the night before in order to try the work of the man at the helm of his eponymous restaurant.

Being one of the first meals of our first time in Paris, it is here we were introduced to the new age of young French chefs who have been superbly trained under the tutelage of the French greats and others around the world. The similarities to their mentors are obvious – exquisite ingredients, perfect execution, seasonality and more. But the characteristic opulent atmosphere, heavy tasting menus and rich price tags associated with their predecessors are few and far between with this generation. Instead their approach is modernistic yielding relatively lighter menus and more affordable experiences.

In Restaurant David Toutain the modernistic approach began once we stepped into the restaurant. Looking at the aesthetics composed of oak floors, an open space and wooden dining tables without any tablecloths felt reminiscent of the interiors characteristic of scandinavia. But this is Paris after all, and though much seemed different from generalizations of haute cuisine, this restaurant still delivered on the grandiose flavours of autumn.

We’ve never had to wait in line to get into a Michelin-starred restaurant before. But there is a first time for everything as that is what greeted us when we arrived at the footsteps of L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon – a line up full of disgruntled would-be patrons long enough to pack the entire restaurant’s first seating.

There we were, hours after manoeuvring through the gongshow of the Charles de Gaulle airport, making our way through the Tuileries Garden with pastries in our hands. Each bite into the flaky escargots aux raisins felt like pure butter melting in our mouth. It was glorious! So much so that the men harassing tourists to buy 1 € Eiffel Tower replicas weren’t as irritating as they were five minutes before. But Paris as we all know is not just about the next chocolatine. Known as the home of some of the best art, history, architecture, fashion and cuisine, somehow our sojourn into this highly explored and documented city still managed to surprise us in ways we had not imagined.